Palestinian National and Former Colombian Detective Plead Guilty to
Conspiring to Support the FARC And Alien Smuggling

Seven Convictions To Date Stemming From ICE Sting Operation

WASHINGTON – A Palestinian national and a former detective with the Colombian
Department of Administrative Security (DAS) have pleaded guilty to charges of
conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and
alien smuggling, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal
Division and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein of the National
Security Division announced today.

Jalal Sadat Moheisen (Sadat), 49, a Palestinian national and resident of
Bogota, Colombia, pleaded guilty in Miami before U.S. District Judge Joan A.
Lenard to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is a State Department
designated foreign terrorist organization.

Nicolas Ricardo Tapasco Romero (Tapasco), 45, of Bogota, Colombia, also pleaded
guilty before Judge Lenard to one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling
and two counts of bringing aliens to the United States for private financial
gain.

Sadat and Tapasco were arrested in Bogota on Jan. 26, 2006, after their
participation in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sting
operation. The two men were extradited to South Florida on Feb. 15, 2007, and
Jan. 3, 2007, respectively.

Sadat admitted that between July 2005 and January 2006, he facilitated travel to
the United States for three cooperating government informants who posed as FARC
operatives. Sadat not only agreed to smuggle the informants to the United
States, but upon learning that their mission was to launder $4-5 million from
the U.S. to Colombia, he offered to introduce them to a local emerald salesman
who could carry out the transaction.

To facilitate the informants’ travel, Sadat made their flight reservations and
contracted to provide fraudulent Spanish passports that permit entry into the
United States without a visa. To assist the informants in falsely representing
themselves as Spaniards, Sadat’s co-defendant procured fraudulent Spanish
driver’s licenses, Spanish identity documents and Spanish trade association
cards. Sadat also coordinated inspection-free passage through immigration at
the Bogota airport by working with co-defendants Tapasco and Jorge De Los Reyes
Bautista Martinez.

Tapasco, a 10-year DAS veteran detective, formerly assigned to the immigration
division, admitted that in November 2005 he facilitated the departure of two
cooperating government informants who posed as Colombian nationals seeking to
enter the United States with fraudulent Spanish passports. Tapasco reviewed the
fake passports, secured fraudulent exit visas and arranged the informants’
illicit passage through immigration inspection at the Bogota airport. In
particular, Tapasco’s coordination led to the informants’ clandestine passage
around immigration controls after his co-conspirator—a DAS immigration
inspector—ushered one informant around immigration inspection booths and led
another through a separate passage that bypassed immigration altogether. After
the informants passed through security, they boarded flights to Miami and
arrived in the United States holding their fraudulent Spanish passports.

Sadat and Tapasco’s price to smuggle the informants through the Bogota airport
was $4,000 per traveler. Sadat also accepted more than $5000 to make flight
reservations and obtain the fraudulent Spanish identity documents.

Under the terms of their plea agreements, Sadat and Tapasco face a maximum of 15
years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Sentencing before Judge Lenard is
scheduled for Jan. 25, 2007.

Sadat and Tapasco are two of 10 individuals indicted by a Miami federal grand
jury on terrorism, alien smuggling and money laundering charges on Jan. 3, 2006.
To date, five other co-defendants in the case have pleaded guilty. Trial for
the remaining defendants is set to begin on Jan. 22, 2008.

The case was investigated by the Office of the ICE Attaché in Bogota, Colombia.
Trial Attorney Brian Skaret of the Domestic Security Section of the Department
of Justice prosecuted the case. Support was provided by the Justice
Department’s Office of International Affairs’ Office of the Judicial Attaché in
Colombia. The Department’s National Security Division provided assistance to
the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William White of the Southern
District of Florida served as local counsel on the case. Valuable support was
also provided by Colombian authorities.